This invention relates to vehicles in general and particular to fire-fighting type work vehicles and specifically to an arrangement of equipment elements to facilitate maintenance of the work vehicle.
Prior art vehicles, specifically fire-fighting type of vehicles have a variety of equipment and apparatus utilized during fire-fighting and rescue operations. Such equipment needs periodic maintenance, some on a daily basis. Typical arrangements of such equipment and apparatus results in such elements being located in different parts of the vehicle. Equipment elements such as filters may be located on the side of the vehicle, underneath the vehicle or such other place that is typically convenient for the manufacturer of the vehicle.
However, for purposes of maintenance of such equipment, an operator has to move to different locations on the vehicle in order to maintain the equipment and apparatus, such as changing the filters, checking levels of fluids, making connections to air compressors or batteries and the like. Such procedures are time consuming and inconvenient. Because of space constraints where the work vehicle, such as a fire-fighting crash vehicle, is stored, the vehicle typically has to be moved out of the garage area in order to facilitate the maintenance in or on the various areas of the vehicle.
Thus there is a need for an arrangement of equipment elements that will facilitate the maintenance of such elements on a work vehicle. There is also a need to provide easy access, preferably in one location on the vehicle, to the various day-to-day maintenance items associated with a fire-fighting vehicle.